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MacKenzie Blackwood

East Notes: Norris, Blackwood, Palat

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The Ottawa Senators got bad news yesterday when head coach D.J. Smith told the media that he was not confident that Josh Norris, a crucial top-six center in his lineup, would return to the ice this season. This unfortunate development has led many to wonder whether the Senators, led by GM Pierre Dorion, would pursue immediate upgrades to fill the hole left in their lineup by Norris’ absence. Veteran forward Derick Brassard is currently occupying Norris’ old slot in the lineup, and seeing as the Senators have hopes of contending in the Atlantic division, so they may want to upgrade on Brassard, who had 19 points in 46 games last season.

According to TSN’s Darren Dreger on today’s Insider Trading program, that’s not the direction the Senators will be headed. Dreger reports that Ottawa feels “that they are OK” despite Norris’ injury, and they believe that they have the depth in their lineup to overcome the challenges they’ll face in his absence. The Senators certainly have enviable scoring depth, and with Shane Pinto off to a scorching hot start, the need to find an immediate upgrade at center looks to be less urgent.

Some other notes regarding Eastern Conference teams:

  • New Jersey Devils goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood is out with a day-to-day injury and could return as soon as tomorrow, reports Amanda Stein of the Devils’ team website. While this injury appears to be a minor one, it’s worth noting considering the larger situation Blackwood finds himself in. A pending arbitration-eligible restricted free agent, Blackwood is looking to rebound after an injury-plagued 2021-22 campaign that saw him post an .892 save percentage in 25 games. Staying healthy could be the key to him having that rebound season, so hopefully he’ll find his way back into the lineup quickly.
  • In another injury update concerning the Devils, forward Ondrej Palat is “continuing to be evaluated” for a lower-body injury, per Devils head coach Lindy Ruff. According to Ruff, an update on that injury should come in the “next few days.” Palat was the team’s major free agent signing this past summer and has three goals in six games so far this season.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Gurianov, Kessel

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The NHL released its Three Stars for last week, with Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin taking the top spot. While he was good through the first few years of his career, Dahlin has really taken another step under Sabres head coach Don Granato. Last season he set career highs with 13 goals and 53 points, and he’s off to an incredible start this year with five goals and eight points in five games. Dahlin became the first defenseman in NHL history to score in the first four games of a season and then broke his own record by scoring again on Saturday night.

Brady Tkachuk and MacKenzie Blackwood take home the second and third spots, after having their own impressive weeks. Blackwood’s was especially impressive because of the poor start that the New Jersey Devils goaltenders got off to. In three starts, Blackwood posted a .932 save percentage and silenced some of the chatter over the future of head coach Lindy Ruff. Tkachuk, meanwhile, had seven points in three games, recording at least two in each contest.

  • Denis Gurianov figures to be a healthy scratch when the Dallas Stars take on Tkachuk and the Ottawa Senators tonight, as his inconsistencies have once again pushed him out of the lineup. Head coach Peter DeBoer spoke with Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News, explaining that Gurianov is “not a young player anymore” and will be held to the consistency standard that other veterans are expected to maintain. The 25-year-old Gurianov doesn’t have a point through his first five contests.
  • Vegas Golden Knights forward Phil Kessel will tie the NHL consecutive games streak tonight, when he takes on his old club the Toronto Maple Leafs. The veteran forward will play his 989th straight game, matching the record set by Keith Yandle. The last time Kessel missed a game was his first year with the Maple Leafs, back in 2009-10. He is also just 43 points away from 1,000 for his career.

East Notes: Zucker, Pandolfo, Devils

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Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jason Zucker has struggled with injuries all season long, as the 30-year-old was limited to just 41 games during the regular season. Despite that, it looks like Zucker will be healthy enough to slot into the Penguins’ lineup for Game 2 tonight against the New York Rangers, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Mike DeFabo. Zucker could replace Rickard Rakell in the lineup, who was injured in Game 1’s triple-overtime win.

Game 2 will be a tougher outing for the Penguins, as NHL journeyman Louis Domingue, third on the team’s goalie depth chart, looks to start his first career playoff game. Zucker last played on April 26 before leaving that game with a lower-body injury. If Zucker can’t play, it’s likely youngster Drew O’Connor will make his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut.

  • While the Boston Bruins struggle in the First Round against the Carolina Hurricanes, a former coach is getting put in the spotlight today. Longtime NHLer Jay Pandolfo was named as the 13th head coach of the Boston University Terriers today, just one season after he departed the Bruins organization as an assistant coach. Pandolfo was a member of Boston’s coaching staff from 2014-2021, reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2019. Now, after one season as the associate head coach at BU, he’ll get the chance to lead the team himself. In Pandolfo’s final season as a player at BU, 1995-96, he torched the college circuit as the team’s captain with 38 goals and 67 points in just 39 games.
  • New Jersey Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald today left the door open on trading the team’s 2022 first-round draft choice, specifically to upgrade the team’s goaltending situation. The Devils were a much better team than their record indicated this season, largely because of injuries in the crease to both Mackenzie Blackwood and Jonathan Bernier. With Bernier’s playing future uncertain and Blackwood not emerging as a true no. 1 goalie just yet, the team will look to add an established body to the crease to help propel them toward a playoff spot. A weak free-agent market leaves the Devils with few choices there, so a trade is the most likely option for the Devils to be able to upgrade.

Mackenzie Blackwood Still Expected To Play Before Season Ends

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The New Jersey Devils need a goalie. The team has received an .883 save percentage this season, better than only the Seattle Kraken’s .881. Currently, they’re rolling with a tandem of Andrew Hammond and Jon Gillies that have 94 NHL games between them, despite being 34 and 28 years old respectively. Earlier this month, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet put it clearly on the 32 Thoughts podcast:

They’re going to have to find a goalie. They’re really going to have to find a goalie. What the Devils are selling to their fans, and some of their players, and they’ve said it publicly to the media is: ’our underlying numbers say we’re a better team. We just can’t stop the puck.’ Well you can’t keep coming with that narrative. 

Friedman goes on to note that Mackenzie Blackwood’s injuries this season have been an important part of the disappointing season that has taken place. The young netminder was on Team Canada’s long list for the Olympics at the start of the season and looked like the obvious choice long-term in the Devils’ net. The Sportsnet insider goes on to explain that maybe it is time for a fresh start somewhere else, though that would certainly not solve the issues in New Jersey moving forward.

That’s what makes the last few games of the season so interesting for the Devils, and Blackwood in particular. Head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters including Mike Morreale of NHL.com again today that the plan is still to get Blackwood back into a few games before the end of the year. New Jersey has just six games left including tonight against the Buffalo Sabres, and has Blackwood still listed as day-to-day, though he did appear at the optional morning skate today.

Is there a chance that the Blackwood-Jonathan Bernier tandem return for 2022-23? Sure, as they are both signed through next season before being scheduled for free agency in the summer (RFA status for the former). But there will also be a strong desire to take a big step forward for the Devils next season, given how well some players have performed. Jesper Bratt recorded his 70th point of the season a few days ago, Nico Hischier has a career-high with 58 points, and Jack Hughes (when healthy) has looked every bit the first-overall pick. The team can’t be let down by bad goaltending again, not while they’re investing so much into free agents like Dougie Hamilton to try and contend for the playoffs.

While both Nico Daws and Akira Schmid saw NHL action and look like promising prospects, it’s hard to trust a pair of 21-year-olds who recorded .893 and .833 save percentages. Gillies and Hammond haven’t done much better, and are unrestricted free agents at the end of the year.

So while games at the end of a bad season rarely mean much of anything, Blackwood’s return would be significant.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Morning Notes: Manson, Daws, Lorito

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New Anaheim Ducks general manager has some big decisions to come in the next few weeks, as the team holds several players who would be top rental options at the trade deadline should they be put on the market. One of those names is Josh Manson, who has seemingly been linked to the Toronto Maple Leafs since the moment he entered the league. Well, if the Maple Leafs ever did want to pry Manson out of Anaheim, there’s another roadblock in the way. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet notes on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast that Toronto is one of the teams on Manson’s no-trade list.

The 30-year-old can block trades to 12 teams as part of his modified no-trade clause, which gives him at least a little bit of power over where he’ll end up if the Ducks do decide to move him in the coming weeks. Rickard Rakell and Hampus Lindholm are the other big names for the Ducks, who sit third in the Pacific Division but have played a league-high 48 games already.

  • The New Jersey Devils have recalled Nico Daws to the NHL roster today despite the All-Star break already being underway, sending Akira Schmid back to Utica in his place. While the Comets have a back-to-back starting tonight against the Laval Rocket and could be using it as a way to keep Schmid sharp, it will be interesting to see if Daws gets another look with the Devils down the stretch. The 21-year-old goaltender played twice in October, but with MacKenzie Blackwood’s season still up in the air perhaps he’ll get another shot to try and show what he can do at the NHL level. Daws, a third-round pick in 2020, has a .917 save percentage in 17 games for Utica this season.
  • Matt Lorito has signed a new one-year AHL contract with the Hartford Wolf Pack, returning to the AHL after spending this season in the KHL and SHL. The 31-year-old forward is an experienced hand in the minor leagues and won a Calder Cup in 2017 with the Grand Rapids Griffins. In his last AHL appearance, he had 11 points in 27 games for the San Diego Gulls.

Snapshots: Cooley, Miller, Blackwood

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For quite some time now, Shane Wright, the consensus preseason favorite to go first overall in the 2022 draft, has been falling closer and closer to the pack. The Kingston Frontenacs forward has been good after missing all of last year when the OHL was forced to cancel the season, but he hasn’t been outstanding. With 15 goals and 43 points in 31 games, he now sits fourth on his own team in scoring (though he is the only draft-eligible among that group) and was no longer a unanimous top pick in Bob McKenzie’s midseason scout poll for TSN.

Now, a leading publication has put him second. Chris Peters of Daily Faceoff ranks Logan Cooley as the best prospect in the 2022 draft, ahead of Wright, and notes that he is a more dynamic player at the moment. The USNTDP center was always expected to go near the top of the draft, but going first overall would certainly be a big climb for a player that wasn’t even in the top five in many preseason polls.

  • J.T. Miller has been the focus of trade speculation for the last few weeks as the Vancouver Canucks march toward the deadline, but Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet may have thrown some cold water on that in his latest 32 Thoughts column. He starts it by explaining that the Canucks have investigated the idea of re-signing Miller, not trading him, and notes that that could be one of the reasons why a name like Conor Garland has surfaced in recent days. The Canucks need to clear cap space and Miller’s $5.25MM hit is the fourth-highest among Vancouver forwards, but he’s also been the team’s most reliable and productive player this season. He would not be eligible for an extension until July 13 when free agency opens and he officially enters the final year of his current contract.
  • One other note from Friedman’s column regards New Jersey Devils goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood and his heel injury. The netminder is getting a second opinion over what treatment method to pursue and there is no timeline for his recovery. Blackwood last played on January 19, allowing four goals on 17 shots to the Arizona Coyotes.

Devils Remove Five From COVID Protocol, Add Two Others

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Dec 29: Jimmy Vesey has joined Tatar and Gillies in the protocol. The Devils have recalled Jesper Boqvist and Marian Studenic from the taxi squad to fill the empty roster spots.

Dec 26: The Devils got some good news and bad news on the COVID front as they returned from the holiday break.  The team announced that winger Tomas Tatar and goaltender Jon Gillies have been placed in protocols but they were able to activate centers Nico Hischier and Jesper Boqvist plus defensemen Ryan Graves, P.K. Subban, and Christian Jaros from the COVID list.  Tatar and Gillies will be out for the next ten days.

Tatar is in his first season with New Jersey after signing a two-year deal with them in the offseason and is off to a quiet start offensively with just six goals in 30 games although his possession stats are once again well above the league average which was also the case when he played with Montreal previously.  Meanwhile, Gillies was just acquired from St. Louis to give them another option between the pipes with both Mackenzie Blackwood and Jonathan Bernier injured.  Fortunately for the Devils, Blackwood has returned to practice and should be ready to play soon.

As for those returning, Hischier sits second on the Devils in assists with 13 in 25 games although his three goals are underwhelming for the 2017 first-overall pick.  Boqvist has been up and down with the team this season and has suited up in eight NHL contests so far.  They’ll get a nice boost on their back end with the returns of Graves and Subban who sit third and fifth respectively in ATOI among New Jersey blueliners while Jaros has had a very limited reserve role.

New Jersey is set to play against Buffalo on Wednesday in their first game back from the break barring any further changes or postponements.

Devils Place P.K. Subban In COVID Protocol, MacKenzie Blackwood Injured

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The bad news just keeps on coming for the Devils.  The team made a pair of announcements, revealing that goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood is dealing with a neck injury and will not be accompanying the team to Detroit for their game tonight while defenseman P.K. Subban has been placed in COVID protocol.

The Devils haven’t had a lot of good luck on the injury front when it comes to their goaltending.  When they were healthy, they wound up losing Scott Wedgewood on waivers to Arizona last month.  Earlier this month, Jonathan Bernier suffered a hip injury, one that could be a longer-term issue.  First-year pros Nico Daws and Akira Schmid have both seen action (Schmid’s coming this week) and New Jersey recently acquired Jon Gillies from the Blues, a player that had just signed an NHL contract days earlier.  Now, Blackwood’s absence – one that carries a day-to-day designation – means that Schmid and Gillies will serve as their tandem for the time being.

As for Subban, he is now the fifth Devil to enter COVID protocol, joining blueliners Ryan Graves and Christian Jaros plus forwards Nico Hischier and Jesper Boqvist.  Subban had been held out of their game against Vegas on Thursday for precautionary measures but that won’t count as time spent in protocol; he will still need to miss at least ten days unless follow-up testing reveals a false positive.

Canada To Close Border To Unvaccinated Athletes

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As Coronavirus concerns persist, the clock is ticking for unvaccinated NHLers to travel freely across the Canadian border. The Canadian Press reports that the country has decided to end its current leniency toward athletes and will enforce its national COVID protocol. Beginning January 15, unvaccinated athletes will not be permitted to cross the border.

The announcement of this policy change came on Friday, as Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendocino stated that the border will be closing to unvaccinated and partially vaccinated athletes in the new year. It was Mendocino who worked through the details of the current national interest exemption, which allows unvaccinated professional and amateur athletes to travel across the border under conditions, but they will now repeal that agreement with the NHL, as well as the MLB, NBA, and MLS. While the stated purpose of the change is to align with the next stage of Canada’s COVID battle by improving vaccination rates, the requirement applies to athletes of all nationalities.

Fortunately, this should have a negligible effect on the NHL overall. Commissioner Gary Bettman announced at the beginning of the season that only four players on NHL rosters were unvaccinated. That number may need updating given roster transactions, but this policy change will still be of no concern to more than 99% of players. While the league has never formally revealed the names of those initial four names, Detroit’s Tyler Bertuzzi and New Jersey’s Mackenzie Blackwood had been individually confirmed and, if still not fully vaccinated, would not be permitted to travel to Canada after January 15 and per NHL rules could be suspended by their teams for those absences. However, those are the few cases of concern out of hundreds of NHL players, making this change of little consequence to the league.

Snapshots: Canucks, Sullivan, Blackwood

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The Vancouver Canucks have allowed 19 goals against in their last three games and now find themselves just three points ahead of the bottom-dwelling Seattle Kraken for last place in the Pacific Division. The team has lost four in a row, eight of their last ten, and now own a -14 goal differential on the year. Things are not going well in Vancouver, to say the least.

So when reports surfaced over the weekend that the team owner was on the road trip, some eyebrows were raised around the league. Would the team make a change in the front office if things didn’t turn around quickly? No, apparently not yet. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman tweets that though owner Francesco Aquilini is meeting with general manager Jim Benning this afternoon, he does not expect to make a change at the position. Friedman writes that the meeting is just to “understand why the team is losing and address it.” The Canucks are scheduled to welcome in the Colorado Avalanche, Winnipeg Jets, and Chicago Blackhawks on their current three-game homestand.

  • The Pittsburgh Penguins host the Buffalo Sabres tonight and will have Mike Sullivan behind the bench, but the head coach won’t be able to travel with the team to Montreal for Thursday’s matchup against the Canadiens because of COVID restrictions. Sullivan has been cleared from the league’s protocol, but hasn’t eclipsed the 14-day period that the Canadian government requires. Luckily, Sidney Crosby and Brian Dumoulin, who both recently exited the protocol, will be eligible to travel and play.
  • Mackenzie Blackwood has cleared the concussion protocol and is available to play for them on Thursday if necessary. Blackwood collided with Kaapo Kakko in the third period of Sunday’s game, causing a concussion spotter to pull him from the match. He told reporters today that his neck is a little sore, but he practised in full today and appears ready to return.

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